Crassulaceae plants, which can reproduce via stem or leaf fragments, are a great analogy for not only how I make art, but how I choose to live each day.
In some cases, the admission officer may feel that a student is ready for college, but their institution may not be adequately equipped to help them thrive (not all colleges have the same kinds of resources, unfortunately).
Go to www.onetonline.org and use the “occupation quick search” feature to search for your career. Once you do, a huge list will appear containing knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for your career. This is one of my favorite resources for this exercise.
Creativity: After I understand how a game works, I like to try to improve it by tweaking the rules. Two examples: 1) I remember when I was young trying to find the right amount of money for the Free Parking space in Monopoly, and 2) recently, I learned the game Guesstimation is so much better if you add wagers. I see my 4-year-old daughter tweaks games too, which drives my wife crazy, as she likes to play by the rules of the game.
Would you Rather watch instead?
Common personal statement topics include extracurricular activities (sports or musical instruments), service trips to foreign countries (aka the “mission trip” essay where the author realizes their privilege), sports injuries, family illnesses, deaths, divorce, the “meta” essay (e.g., “As I sit down to write my college essays, I think about. ”), or someone who inspired you (common mistake: This usually ends up being more about them than you).
Here’s an essay that one student wrote after completing this exercise:
If you answered “yes” to both questions at the beginning of this guide, I recommend exploring Narrative Structure. I’ll explain this in more detail below.
Use this feedback to make any last-minute changes or edits. If necessary, repeat steps 5 and 6. You want to be extra sure that your essay is perfect before you submit it to colleges!
College essay topics that are unique are also typically the most memorable, and if there’s anything you want to be during the college application process, it’s that! Admissions officers have to sift through thousands of applications, and the essay is one of the only parts that allows them to really get a sense of who you are and what you value in life.
Specificity is essential because it’ll not only make your essay stand out from other statements, but it'll also recreate the experience for admissions officers through its realism, detail, and raw power. You want to tell a story after all, and specificity is the way to do so. Nobody wants to read a vague, bland, or boring story — not even admissions officers!
Regardless of what you write about in your personal statement for college, there are key features that will always make for a stand-out college essay topic.
Step 3: Structure Your Narrative
For example, an OK topic would be your experience volunteering at a cat shelter over the summer. But a better, more specific college essay topic would be how you deeply connected with an elderly cat there named Marty, and how your bond with him made you realize that you want to work with animals in the future.
If at any point you get stuck and have no idea what to write, revisit steps 1-3 to see whether there are any important details or ideas you might be omitting or not elaborating on enough to get your overall point across to admissions officers.
Once you’ve chosen a general topic to write about, get out a piece of paper and get to work on creating a list of all the key details you could include in your essay. These could be things such as the following:
- Write down all the details
- Figure out your focus and approach
- Structure your narrative
- Write a rough draft
- Edit, revise, and proofread
- Get feedback and tweak as needed
This means you shouldn’t try to write about things where it’s too painful to be honest. So if your parents got a divorce last year, it may be too raw to write about, which is perfectly fine. If, however, they got divorced when you were 5 and you can honestly reflect on how it changed your life, go for it.
You want to start writing way before the deadline. If possible, give yourself at least two months, and maybe even more time if you can. This will make sure that you have enough time to adequately plan your essay, draft it, and edit it.
In general, there are two main approaches you might take to write your essay. It might primarily take a narrative format, or it might take a thematic format.
Sometimes your approach will be determined by the prompt or topic that you choose. For example, if a prompt says to relate a particular event or anecdote, you’ll probably use a narrative approach. By contrast, if you want to write about how your favorite book changed your life, that will probably be a thematic essay.
#8: Be Unique, but Not Bizarre
The first thing you’ll need to do is identify all the essays you’ll need to write and their deadlines. It may help you to make a spreadsheet with the essay guidelines for each school, the word count, the prompts, the due date, and any special instructions. This will help you figure out:
This does not mean you should get really avant-garde with your essay formatting. Don’t send in a piece of art instead of an essay, or make a video, or write a poem instead of an essay, unless those things are explicitly allowed.
You definitely want your writing to set you apart—but you want it to set you apart in a good way. This means you want high-quality writing about unique experiences and qualities you bring to the table that aren’t covered elsewhere in your application.
What makes you stand out? This should be something that goes beyond what’s in the rest of your application. Your test scores and GPA are already there. What really shows something unique about you?
You should also avoid essay topics that involve obscene language, illegal activities, violence, or graphic subjects. While writing a strong essay about one of these topics may be theoretically possible, it’s extremely difficult, and attempting to do so is generally not successful. If you’re considering writing about anything that could be considered controversial, keep in mind that the people reading your application may very well disagree with you completely, so don’t make personal attacks on or assumptions about those with different opinions.
When you think about a topic for a compelling college admissions essay, what comes to mind? It might seem like you need to write about something exceptionally interesting and impressive, like your backpacking trip in the Amazon or that time you won the national championship in underwater basket weaving.
While writing your essay on an unusual topic may make you stand out to some extent in the applicant pool, college admissions isn’t simply a contest where the person who has had the most exciting experiences wins. In fact, even if you have had an extraordinary experience, you may not want to make it the topic of your college essay if it doesn’t fit the prompt or reveal much of significance about you.
Colleges also understand that not everyone has access to the same set of opportunities. Your geographic location, your socioeconomic status, your family connections, and many other factors have an impact on what you can do during your high school years. Admissions officers certainly aren’t going to penalize you if, for instance, you haven’t had the chance to travel the world, or you couldn’t afford to take part in certain activities.
Does your Common App essay actually stand out?
Your essay can be the difference between an acceptance and rejection — it allows you to stand out from the rest of applicants with similar profiles. Get a free peer review or review other students’ essays right now to understand the strength of your essay.
Beyond these boundaries, however, the range of possible topics on which you could potentially write a great essay is extremely broad. Obviously, we at CollegeVine can’t describe every single possible topic
In addition, you should be aware that under certain circumstances, colleges may be required to report certain crimes, such as child abuse, if they are divulged in an essay or elsewhere in the application. See our post on Notre Dame University for an example of one such policy.
First of all, set aside the idea that you need to write your essay about something dramatic and unusual. Even a topic that seems clichéd — for instance, a book you read, a friendship you made, or a memorable moment with your family — can make for an excellent essay topic that shows off your communication skills as well as the personal qualities that colleges like to see. The manner in which you write about your experience is much more important than the innate value of the experience itself.
You may write on any subject. Popular themes include hobbies, nature, childhood, illness, travel, making a difficult choice, learning something new, friends, family, and relationships.
Here we have gathered a wide variety of moving ideas for your inspiration. Whether you need personal experience essay topics or personal narrative essay topics, we’ve got you covered.
- How you met a special person in your life?
- A person you admire most.
- The best place in the local area.
- A place where you would like to live your whole life.
- Works of art you admire.
- The job of your dream.
- Your biggest disappointment.
- Books that made a great impression on you.
- What annoys you?
- Your family traditions.
- Are you addicted to technology?
- What modern songs inspire you?
- Could you live without money?
- Do you like commercials?
- What is your best method of studying?
First of all, you need to find a compelling topic. College personal essay topics include a lot of things.
College personal essay topics
Whatever theme you choose, it’s crucial to start an introduction of your paper with a strong hook to capture the audience’s attention. Introduce the subject in the first paragraph. Think about the main idea you want to communicate.
When writing on personal persuasive essay topics, writers must state their position or opinion on an issue and try to persuade people to accept their point of view, telling stories and appealing to their feelings and emotions.
Actually, the subject is not as important as you think. Readers want to see your point of view that reveals your unique personality.
- You’ll improve communication and critical thinking skills.
- Challenging themes can help you stand out from the crowd.
- You will be able to demonstrate your creativity and ability to apply persuasive techniques.